Plea to Anet: Bundle GW1, with the purchase of GW2

I don't know how much Guild Wars still sells at retail, but I could imagine that the retail sales will almost get killed completely once Guild Wars 2 is released.

It seems to many of us now, that GW2 will be a very different game from GW1, maybe for better or worse, we will have to see when that time comes, but I personally applaud it, because there is already a Guild Wars, and doing the same thing one more time, just with better graphics seems lazy and boring to me. Like a false sense of security, because change can be scary.

But because GW2, will be so different, there is suddenly this wonderful possibility that GW1 does not need to die, even if it won't get updated. A great way of doing this would be to include the original game, when GW2 gets released.

Valve did a great thing when they bundled, Half-Life 2, and Episode 1, when they released the Orange Box. They saw the benefits of the long term effects, and how the increased value of giving customers a great way to experience the previous game, for free, would further their customers loyalty. And it was not like Half-Life 2 was a small game that nobody bought. It's without a doubt one of the biggest and most important gaming releases of the last ten years.


If GW1, was included as a digital download, on a small USB stick, or something, people would most likely go back and complete, or at least play GW1 for a while, making sure that GW1 would remain healthy.

Why would people go play GW1, when they have GW2? Well, obviously because GW1 will offer something different, and while the graphics are not something to brag about anymore, the tech and philsophy is still great.

Gamers who come during the GW2 days, will be able to explore what happened 200 years ago, and see how it began, and unlock things. It will be perfect, and another way for Anet to win lots of brownie points.

Long term, I am absolutely 100% certain that gamers will commit to GW2, because they see what the developers did to keep the previous game alive. Nobody wants to spend hundreds of time in an online RPG, if they are scared that it will die out soon.
That is why you have tons of people going to online forums asking for the most popular online games. It's like a guarantee that the game will remain healthy and have a population for a long time.

Resting on it's laurels and saying that it's "not needed" is a false sense of security, that will be tarnished by the coming of Diablo 3, SWTOR(and the legions of fans who will follow that game, regardless of how good/crappy it is) and Cataclysm(which is shaping up to be a bloddy fantastistic game!).


So all in all; Give this one for free, think of the long term benefits, and for your fans who wish to keep playing GW1, for time to time. While we can still play in an empty world if you choose to keep the servers up, it will not be very much fun. It's very little you have to do to keep it alive. You don't have to update it.
Just push a tiny bit for the health of GW1. You don't have to bundle Factions/Nightfall/EOTN, if you don't want to, but I think that would be even more amazing.
If GW does not sell anymore I don't see a need of why not. You're not going to make money on a dead online game, that's for sure, but if it's alive and well it will strengthen the reputation of the company, and Guild Wars as a very long lasting brand.
So many people blindly bought Starcraft 2, because it went without saying that it would stay alive for a very long time, simply because of the original.



I searched for this subject and could not find any threads like it. Sorry if it has been discussed before!

The collector's edition of Starcraft 2, included a USB with a copy of Starcraft 1 + Brood Wars on it.

You've got a lot of good points there, Lawnmower.

I know I will still be playing Guild Wars 1 (as well as Guild Wars 2) once the sequel hits. I love this game and it'd be great to keep it alive for as long as possible.

I can easily imagine being in a GW2 guild with nothing much happening and then someone suggesting we go have a session of GW1 action, expanding the whole "Guild Wars experience" incredibly. It'd be great to have a sense of an active joint community.

I know I will definitely continue playing GW1 alongside GW2. IMO, they should bundle GW1 + GW2 as a sale to try and push more revenue.


HoM??

I think it's interesting. I'll be playing gw1 as well for a lot after gw2 release, and I don't want to see it die.
Though lots of people are buying gw1 only for the HoM, to have gw2 benefits, I think this tendency is gonna stop if they see there's no real reward for it (and that's what I think will happen). If ever they won't be making profit from this game anymore, giving prophecies for free would not only get people again into gw1, but probably many players, starting with proph, will get interested and buy the rest (factions/nightfall/eotn); and that would greatly help profits. It wouldn't happen if you give the complete game for free, but with prophecies only I could really see it happening.

It may create a bit more space and less panic on GW2 servers

I can see that being a good idea - but look at it this way:

They will want the initial player base to be big at launch, and they are hoping to attract a lot of new players who have not played GW 1.

Now, if you bundle GW 1 in with GW 2 a lot of people are going to think; "well, maybe I should play through the first game before playing the new one?"

I dunno about you, but it took me around two years to finish GW 1.

They're not gonna do it.

2 years is a loooong time

2 years isn't normal It would only really take about a week to complete Prophecies for a regular player. SOmeone who wanted to a grasp of the lore on Tyria would probably be a hardcore player.

Well it would give me a second gw1 account so I wouldn't complain, or I could give it as a gift to a friend.

Whether I will be playing it much depends on gw2.
I am hoping that 2 will be so good the forums will be filled with posts saying you remember that old turkey GW1 wasn't it awful compared to this.

When I really got going on gw1 any other game social activity sleep etc was secondary, it was probably 8 hours of gw in the week and probably 14 hours gw at weekends.

If that happens with gw2 I just wont be able to do much more that look into gw 1 occasionally.

If you put lipstick on a pig it's still a pig and that is all GW2 is going to be...GW1 with lipstick. It's just another donkey milking ploy to get more money out of the unknowing. Sure it'll have some changes but not enough to give it a complete makeover just some lipstick and maybe some eyegloss (graphics) and it will be the same boring game GW1 is now. Until they start adding real content like upgraded weapons stats, armor stats like real rpgs do it then it'll never be what GW1 was upon release.

I'd still be playing the greater games like Everquest and WOW if they didn't charge $15 a month to play them. Because they have what I like best....something to play for and go after. Once you have a 15^50 weapon and runed out your plain jane armor of the same stats as Obsidian armor there's nothing else to play for except the titles which are useless save a handful like wisdom and treasure hunter and even those aren't worth squat once you have max weapon and max armor runed out.

GW1 was fun when it was new and unexplored but that didn't take long and then it's just redundant bs. You can tell because of all the solo farmers now. The end game isn't PVP it's just becoming a redundant farmer and whining about nerfing their favorite easy farming builds. That's all GW is anymore. I often wonder what the hell they are farming for? They don't have anything more than I have except a numerical value of gold or umpteen jillion ectos that are useless unless you are just so vain you gotta have a 15^50 torment weapon instead of a 15^50 plain old weapon. You don't even get to see the damn weapons in towns and outposts and who the hell has time to look at anything when you're rushing through the content?

But Barnum was right a fool and his money are soon departed.

You know, some people just plays for fun....nad many like this game exactly because you don't have to play running behind a lvl/powerful item to have fun. Peopple who doesn't like this agme has plenty of choice around. Even for free. Sure, they're boring grinding games but you have something to catch, right?

I think this is a good idea... but I don't really wanna pay more money, just because gw1 is included.
Good thing you brought this up =)
They would look great together

I'm going to be moving to GW2, leaving GW1 in the past. Onwards and upwards, there's only so much you can do on a game and I've pretty much rinsed GW1 dry.

Older games always still get players, and GW1 will be the same, simply because of the no internet fees. So I wouldn't worry there.
A great game will always attract new players. I know of a young lad who got out Return to Castle Wolfenstein from his dads game collection, and he's addicted to it already. A 9 year old PC game.

I fully intend to leave GW1 though, there is nothing here anymore that can fully satisfy me. I want to restart afresh in a new PvE and more importantly PvP rich environment.

Great idea thumps up and ye I think there are many people that will still play gw1 even when gw2 release. I mean just look from this points, the game is very balanced (there are some gimicks) but thats for players that are just getting in pvp and learn (this is pvp view). As I see I stoped playing the game for 2 months when I came back more and more gvg guilds were made and people almost started to play active like in good old days. I play the game for 4yrs. And just a offside comment gw2 graphic is not rly good as I though, they made it more for 3+ year. So ye +1 graphic for gw1, -1 for gw2.

I support this. For the new blood GW2 will attract, GW1 can get the lore lovers attention.

The features you bemoan, such as the ease in which players have in gaining max equipment and armor (as opposed to grinding for months always in search of gear better than everyone else has) is actually a SELLING POINT of the Guild Wars franchise, a deliberate design decision that appeals to many and lends itself well to casual play styles.

I think the quote you want is "a fool and his money are soon parted" it actually means something other than what you said... and it was Thomas Tusser, not P.T. Barnum ("There's a sucker born every minute").

I guess you didn't know what GW was before you got it then because it's always been marketed as a non-loot oriented game - if you like shinies there's always diablo 2 or something.

....I actually like this idea.

great idea, most of us already have an account anyway and the majority of us will be buying gw2 anyway because we had gw1. Great way to spread the word... Now gw just needs a gw commercial to finally wipeout WoW

Completely seconded, Nerel. Most of the elements of classic MMORPGs that are missing from GW are, to me, STRONG points for GW. Standard equipment effects with only cosmetic differences, low level cap and the whole game balanced for lvl 20 most of all.

It is the departure from these principles that is the only thing I'm worried about GW2.

I like what youre saying Lawnmower, its a good idea

Or better yet, incorporate Time Travel, if you watch the newest GW2 trailer there is a new events system in GW2, maybe make it so an event happens where some bad guys go back in time to prevent the present from happening. You go load up GW1 and the new content will be there, you have to finish the quest, put the reward in the HoM and go log back into GW2. Sounds good to me

I'd buy that for a dollar!

Good Idea.

lost count of the commas! Did enjoy reading in the shatner voice!

well tbh its tl;dr. but i read the comments and you want to bundle GW1 w/ GW2.

i like it. I'm Tobi and i /sign this message.

Great idea. You wouldn't need GW1 on a USB stick though, just bundle an activation code and a download link.

I like the idea!
They should also put pre-order for GW2 on the market real soon with instant access to GW1 as soon as you buy it. And off course for all the dedicated boys and girls that already has GW1 a nice pre-order bonus item in GW2.

This...........could make sense.

GW1 gets a population burst to get players active and interested in GW2 (Hall of Monuments anyone) before it's release, then when it goes active, the game has no shortage of players familiar with the game and more people get to experience the inheritance aspect.

Guild Wars in my opinion isn't the game it used to be anymore. I feel like the new people playing will get the wrong impression of what the game was like in its peak. But this is a good idea regardless.

Lol! You people are always wanting something for nothing. I especially lol'd over the guy who thinks that WoW is great but won't play it because it costs $15 a month. Well, I got news for you Sparky, things cost money.
It's not likely that ANet is going to give GW1 away for free, unless they can change it to be more mico-transactioned. If they do, you can be sure that either it will be a time limited account, or GW1 will be scheduled to be turned off at some point. You can't expect to play GW1 for free forever. There has to be a revenue source to pay for the internet bandwidth and power draw of the servers, at least.

The costs decline with time, and fewer players. Bandwidth is always getting cheaper, and the amount of bandwidth it takes to support a player will look smaller and smaller over time, just as the bandwidth to play Diablo 1 is trivial now compared to what it used to be. There are several games that have been playable for free online for over a decade, and there's no reason they shouldn't continue until backwards compatibility becomes too difficult.

And has been pointed out, there's at least two examples of companies doing this with their free-to-play games, so why couldn't GW do it?

as do i. i am also stoked to be agreeing with morphy for once.

That is wrong it has always been marketed as a no grind game but we all found out that was a lie now didn't we? But, unfortunately the grind is for titles only and not for quality Diablolike loot or sets. So, the title grind is boring but it's still a grind that wasn't marketed. It's hardly a skilled game anymore either with all these gimmick builds still around in both PVE and PVP. GW1 has really failed over the years and didn't evolve. That's why it will go down the tubes like Auto Assault and Tabula Rasa did when keeping the servers up is just no longer worth the cost.

I certainly hope they depart from the principles in GW1 now and bring about more of what the great mainstream mmo's and mmorpgs are doing. If they don't they certainly won't get the sales figures they got out of this game.

I agree with having an option to package them together.... However! It is unlikely they would package more than just Prophesies for no additional cost. To new players that tends to give very poor views of the game since it is slow and most skills available in Prophesies are bad thanks to power creep. And more experienced players tend to avoid Prophesies unless they're running through for Protector/Guardian/VQ'ing.

For people who already have GW its a waste to give us more keys for another account (or pay more, unless we really like storage). I mean, does anet really want to hand out alternate storage accounts to nearly everyone still playing GW? They could do something crappy, like making the keys only attachable to the same account you have your GW2 keys on... but that would get more complaints than its worth putting in the effort for.

If there's additional cost (ideally for something more useful, say trillogy) then it needs to be optional and then some - obviously, since most of us don't want to pay extra for something we have. But opting to pay say $20-30 more would be much better for the people who are buying GW2 and actually interested in trying GW sometime. (Or if they plan on trying to grind out a GWAMM for whatever the HoM extras may be.)
IMO, if they really wanted to give a fairer view of GW out with GW2 for the list of reasons above, they should package NF with it. Heroes have become the backbone of PvE play (particularly in dead places with no other players), a lot of skills in NF are the power creep causing earlier skills to suck, and, most importantly, there are still tons of people in NF. I think (purely my opinion) that people would be more likely to continue to play GW, instead of just playing a couple hours when they're bored and forgetting they have it, if NF was included over Prophesies. Given if they try it, it is likely they won't remember they even got GW with GW2 for a couple months till they're bored or high.

This would defeat the purpose of Anet abandoning GW1 in favor of GW2. New people to Anet would actually get to see how little they care about their games over the long term.

Steam usually offers preorder deals like this. "Pre-order Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands and get a free copy of The Sands of Time to play now!"

Good idea.

That's not true at all, I think.

I don't have numbers, so I can not say anything for certain, but it's my personal impression, that the post-release free content that Valve made for Team Fortress 2, must have cost A LOT of money to have developers keep working on such big extensive updates. If you like the additions or not, is a personal preference, but it's my understand that long term sales have been maintained for Team Fortress 2 on PC, simply because they kept updating it, and invested in their playerbase.

This is also why I am suggesting this. Because the ANet that I know and love, is a company who has the same sort of mantra. Because I think, on a mental level for the players, this would mean longer lifespan.


If there is still a way to cash-in on the old Guild Wars games, maybe, what they should do, is to make some Henchmen-ish Heroes, who have the functionality of Heroes, but simply look like Henchies. Add those those to prophercies, for people who would like those, and make sure the game is... Yeah, just bundle that. The original Guild Wars, and there might still be people who dig that game, and want to invest in the pack with the other games.
Or simply, maybe making the trilogy for free for people, might make people go out and buy EOTN. EOTN was the link between the games, after all.




Another thing that excites me about this idea, is that it would be to break convention. It was hard for Asheron Call and Everquests sequels, to work with their predecessors. It mixed them up. The monthly fee's made it difficult for people to shift, and the players had their own ideas about what the sequels should be.
Everquest is still doing good, but the sequel just went F2P, and was guttered in it's headlock with WoW.

The breaking of convention would be the interaction between original and sequel. I wonder if GW2 runs on the same tech, and if it's possible to have a friends list, shared over. Imagine if you decide to want to go back to the good old days, and take a Monk through the original campaign, and your friends in GW2, could see you playing GW1, and they could join you!
Maybe that would even breathe new life into the old misssions, and allow you to play all those great moments of gameplay with your friends, something that the Heroes era have seemed to made more difficult.

Not to mention, unlocking the stuff in GW2. Micro transactions is going to be a part of GW2 right?
So maybe they could do this. Give the original(or the trilogy) as a freebie, and then have EOTN, in the micro transactions store for a fair price.
But merging accounts, and stuff like that, might be extreme. I am just throwing ideas out. I have no idea how their infastructure works.



Guild Wars is uniqe, still. 5 years later, there is nothing like it, and nothing in sight. The sequel looks very different. I will use a lot of time in Guild Wars 2, but I defintely want to keep playing Guild Wars 1.
Here is a intresting article, that asks the question if there is too much multiplayer in gaming today: http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/...h-multiplayer/

GW won't live if nobody plays it. The occasional person might dwelve into it, but I think the majority moves on to the new. A game defintely needs help to be visible, particularly in these days when everything goes Free 2 Play, simply because there is a over saturated amount of free online games out there now, and it's just going to get bigger and bigger.
Long term is the key here.
It's what the Hellgate London developers did not understand. It's what the APB developers don't understand. They set themselves up for a stream of revenue that is ultimately not worth it for most people.
At the same time, people have this flock mentality, that they will flock to games that is popular.
And it's true for myself too. Had Guild Wars sold 5000 copies instead of 6 million copies, I would logically conclude that the lifespan of the game would be short, and I would not have invested all those hours into it. It's my enjoyment to be around other people, sharing the experience, even if it is on this strange online-RPG level of socialism.

GW1 being alive, is like an insurrance for me to have faith in that GW2 will be alive a long time. And that makes me more likely to dare to spend post-launch money on expansions, micro-transactions and other stuff. I would not bleed my wallet if I did not see the long term benefits of it. Absolutely not.
But more important than money spent, is actually time. I have seen a few MMORPGs die, and it's horrible sight, that's meet with regret(often) to have invested so much and see it fail, when you saw the potential.


GW1 does not have any games like it. It's not like you can go out and get something else from a competitor that will give you the same experience, which is why I think it's a legitimate and worthwhile suggestion.
It's not about the money at all. Nobody here, probably has a problem with if they wanted to, to go down to Gamestop and buy GW1 for 5 Dollars. It's so cheap. That's not the thing. What's the thing, is to encourage gamers to try it, because the selection is absolutely insane, and often they need to get poked in the right direction.

It would also be a major win for ArenaNet, if they could honestly say that the release of their sequels resparked a renaissance in it's original debut game. With the long list of games, dying, getting shot down due to the competition, and overflow of multiplayer games, with tagged on elements, where it's not always the best games that are played, but sometimes just those that are popular.
I know that Modern Warfare 2 is a great game, but I am 100% certain that it's also part of a flock mentality, of some people playing it, because of pop culture and because it's talked about on youtube, and because their friends are playing it.

I certainly think GW1 was a smarter, more innovative and somehow more interesting game than WoW, even though the comparrison is flawed. Yet, I see why WoW sold more. It's also simply due to engagement, and you just couldn't expect a debut developer, with a debut engine/technology/franchise go out, and kill a decade old favorite like Warcraft like that, fee or no fee.
But that's not with this is about.
All I am trying to say, that it's actually about GW2. GW1 is just there to reinforce GW2 in every way. As a lore supplement, as a developer/game long lasting inssurance, as a good service for people who purchase GW2, and as simply as a pillar for Guild Wars as a franchise. Big words. Very big words, and a cocky sell, but... Yeah. I can totally see how the Bobby Koticks of the world would not understand.

But I can't be the only one who loves the guys who fight the good fight like ArenaNet, Valve, Stardock!

What they should do instead of bundle a dying game they want to die with a live one is finally allow those players remaining the ability to use 7 heroes. Because they are going to need them after the mass exodus to GW2 from GW1. Talk about ghost towns now just wait until GW2 comes out.

I think you are so far off, as one can be. Take GW1 for what it is. It's not what you want it to be. That was not the point.

If you like Everquest and WoW and such, then I suggest you go play Everquest 2 and Lord of the Rings Online. They are F2P now, and offer that experience you seem to be looking for.


This is mostly a response to your rant on page 1!

Don't much care what you think Lawnboy mower. I told you why I don't play those and you obviously can't read or comprehend as I said they cost $15 a month and I want this game to give what those give at NO MONTHLY FEE. Comprede igmono?

At any rate GW1 is going to die no doubt about that. The population that buys into GW2 will be from the population of GW1 no doubt about that either. I highly doubt there's going to be some NEW flood of players to play GW2. Especially if it's simular to GW1 it will be the ole been there done that why should I pay to do it again syndrome.